Navigation Panel
Introduction The Navigation panel is a vital part of GeoFS. With it, you can find airports, spawn anywhere in the world, and give better ATC callouts, if that's your thing. The Navigation panel consists of multiple different parts that combine together to form a great addition to GeoFS. Basics The Navigation panel consists of three separate parts: map, autopilot, and flight plan. The map shows you where you are, and any airports that are nearby. If you are an ATC, the blocks and circles on the map tell you where the MSL's and other things are, to assist you in guiding planes to and from the airport. The autopilot is extremely helpful with guiding planes in a straight line for as long as you want. To set autopilot, press A or click on the Autopilot button in the Navigation panel (Nav). Set the altitude, speed, and heading as desired, and make sure that you don't hit mountains or fly too low. The flight plan is another helpful flight assist; it shows you where the destination is so you don't fly off course. To set the flight plan, click on Create Flight Plan and click anywhere on the Nav. Drag the point to the desired place and click elsewhere on the Nav. Drag that point to the destination of your choice. If you want to, you can create a more detailed flight plan, clicking and dragging until you get the desired flight plan. To spawn at a random place, right click. You can spawn at these levels: ground, 1000 ft, 3000 ft, 5000 ft, 10,000 ft, 20,000 ft and 30,000 ft. How to Read the Map The map is a helpful tool, but with all the lines, blocks, and dots, it can get confusing. In this section, I will try to disambiguate the map. Airports The airports are probably the most vital part of GeoFS, and as such they need special attention. The airports have marked runways that pinpoint their exact location. Most runways will have dots at either end that let you take off, fly over, or approach the runway. The colors of the runways also matter. Blueish-purple dots signify International-length runways (longer than 6000 ft). Yellowish dots signify shorter runways (less than 6000 ft). Without HD, the runways are marked by both papi lights and a special runway overlay designed specifically for non-HD imagery. Each airport has its own designation (KMIA for Miami Intl, VHHH for Hong Kong Intl, etc...), so be sure to tell the correct ATC where you are landing. When zoom level 13 was implemented, Xavier also added taxiway maps on all the airports. Airspace The blocks, lines and circles that surround every airport are known as airspace designations. Dotted lines usually indicate smaller airports, which have shorter runways and don't normally accommodate large aircraft like Airbuses. Thick blue lines indicate international airports, like Heathrow EGLL and Tansonnhat VVTS. Thick red lines indicate major international airports like Schiphol EHAM, Kastrup EKCH, or Sydney YSSY. Of course, this is an extremely complex topic, and it should not be used for real life flying. For more info, visit http://soaringweb.org. Autopilot The autopilot setting lets you do other things while in flight without throwing your plane off course. To set autopilot, simply press A or click the autopilot button on the Nav. Initially, the autopilot settings will reflect the altitude, heading, and speed for your aircraft at that point in time. If you want a different value for each setting, select the setting's value and enter your own. For example, a normal cruising situation for an Airbus A380 would have the following parameters: (altitude) 35,000 ft; (heading) 265 degrees; and (speed) 370 knots. Of course, each aircraft is different; you should probably not use these settings for a Cessna 172 or a Concorde. Autopilot Tips and Tricks See Also List of Airports that have Pages List of Countrywide Airport Pages Category:GeoFS